Post 1: Raison D'etre
Today this soon to be sixty-five year-old ordered an inflatable stand-up paddle board. The Red Paddle Company twelve-footer has already gotten me through a hard winter of family illnesses, work disappointments, and friend losses. On many cold, dark days it was the image of riding that SUP down the wild Greenbrier River and carrying it back to the car on the River Trail that was my reason for continuing to be. Having a "raison d'etre" is important for everyone, but particularly so with aging. A little motivation to keep moving goes a long way to keeping a Medicare-ready, post-Covid body moving: More kneeling in morning yoga; Step squats with dumbbells; Daily walks to work and back with weighted messenger bag. Ten-thousand steps a day approximate the five miles between river put-ins and take-outs. Still, standing up on a narrow, four-inch thick board gliding down a swift mountain river is a daunti...